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Pennsylvania not feeling the love in 2012

Pennsylvania has gotten little attention from the candidates this year. | AP Photos

In many respects, Obama looks poised to win the state again: the Democrat won by a full 10 points in 2008, a much wider margin than other recent Democratic candidates. Democrats have a registration advantage of more than a million voters (out of the state’s total 8 million). And despite the fact that the state has been competitive in most elections, it hasn’t gone to a Republican candidate in 24 years.

The Obama campaign originally went up on the air with much larger TV buys in May and June after Romney became the presumptive GOP nominee, but scaled their buys back and focused more on radio as Romney’s campaign stayed out of the state. Outside spending, though, has kept pace in Pennsylvania: super PACs allied with both sides, Priorities USA and Restore Our Future, have been running ads there, as well as the GOP-aligned groups Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity.

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“The super PAC spending has probably served to keep the race competitive and to give the Romney campaign an opportunity to use its resources elsewhere — and to really see if without doing much, Pennsylvania will remain in range for them,” Borick said.

Despite the Romney campaign’s lack of a presence on the Keystone state airwaves, a handful of factors — a new voter ID law and a GOP-heavy lineup of elected officials that rode the Republican wave into office in 2010, not to mention high Obama’s disapproval rating here and voters’ low opinions of his handling of the economy — make Republicans in the state optimistic about Romney and Ryan’s chances there.

“Barring a war in the Middle East, or some other cataclysmic thing, I believe that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will be elected from Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania GOP chairman Rob Gleason said.

And Ryan’s visit to West Chester underscores the Romney campaign’s investment in the idea that there’s still an opening to turn the state red — and that the path to do so runs right through suburban Philadelphia.

Traditionally, any candidate hoping to win a statewide race in Pennsylvania needs to win the four collar counties around Philadelphia: Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery and Chester, where Ryan campaigned Tuesday afternoon, plus areas of suburban Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The Republican ticket also hopes to appeal to small-town rural voters that supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary. On Tuesday, Ryan hoped to appeal to these voters when he revived Obama’s remarks from four years ago when he, as a “Catholic deer hunter,” he said he was “happy to be clinging to my guns and religion.”

A Franklin & Marshall poll found Obama leading Romney in southeastern Philadelphia — where Tuesday’s event was held — by 9 points, 47 percent to 38 percent.

The area is a major focus of Romney’s ground game here: of 20 total victory offices in the state so far, six are in those four counties alone — two each in Chester and Montgomery, and one in Bucks and Delaware — plus another office in Philadelphia and one in the nearby Lehigh Valley.

Or maybe the problem is that there has yet to be investigation as to why Republican Governor Tom Corbett dragged his heels on the Sandusky investigation? Or the $600,000 he shook out of board members of Sandusky's charity? Or the $3M payment that Governor Corbett arranged for a charity he knew was being used to feed victims to Sandusky?

I'm sure they are doing just fine with out the traveling circuses. Kind of glad to live in Texas so I don't hear these stupid ads on TV and radio.

Wonder why we are in deficit spending every year? Tax revenue as a % of GDP shows we are paying about 15% of GDP in taxes. Lowest in since the 1960s. Average during the Clinton years was 19.9. If we paid 19.9%, we would be looking at 3 trillion in tax revenues. I bet you all didn't know about that.

Lets talk about the economy. banks have record profits, high liquidity Corporations are posting record profits and revenues the Stock market has doubled in the past 3 years Where are the jobs? CHINA. Our economic growth has fueled Chinas economic boom and not our own. Tough facts... but it is the truth.

Let me see if I have this right, PA, a state that hasn't voted for an R presidential nominee in 2 1/2 decades is a swing state? By whose standards? This state should definitely be a blue state by simple logic.

Team Romney has a Pennsylvania strategy. They are coordinating things with the super PAC plutocrats -- the multimillionaires' and billionaires' club -- and the Republican governor and Republican-dominated legislature. The latter two have passed a bill and signed into law a voter suppression act that might make over 800,000 qualified Pennsylvania residents unable to vote on Election Day, voters Republicans think will vote Democratic if given the legitimate chance. Team Romney has his super PAC attack dogs unleashed in Pennsylvania right now. Romney plans to use his own campaign money on TV ads in the fall. Romney is -- let's face it -- showing his age; he doesn't feel up to campaigning much. We witnessed that during the Republican presidential primaries, where he preferred to hunker down in his bunker. Part of his reluctance to personally go to states and actively campaign is due to his lack of policy substance and new ideas and his fear of being asked questions by reporters. Part of it is that he feels insulted by the small crowds he attracts. Part of it is also due to his rich man's feeling of entitlement: "I deserve to be president. Why should I go grovel for votes before you people? You should be honored I'll let you vote for me."

As usual, the writers at Politico COMPLETELY ignore the one salient fact which drives a story.

Mr. Romney presently has a $100+ million advantage over Obama. He can start using ALL of his funds after he has formally been nominated at the RNC (next Monday night). I suspect Romney probably has more than a few $$ he's willing to invest in PA; certainly enough to BURY his opponent.

Once the Republican convention is over, Romney is going to make a major push in PA. He has closed the gap in most other swing states, so PA is likely to be his next target to pick off. Even though he has not visited here much, he has closed some of the gap between him and Obama.

Mitt has to conserve his assets until after the convention next week. That is part of campaign law since he can't use his Presidential campaign account money till the nomination. But once he is nominated, then he has a large reserve that he can tap! And he will.

What better target for Romney? It will stretch teh Obama campagin even further, and make them spend resources on their home turf.

Pennsylvania will fall to Romney in the coming months. Oblamer will only get 6 states max! The american voters (most) are smarter than you think. Remember how they fired Carter, Obama is going down the same path!!

Pennsylvania will fall to Romney in the coming months. Oblamer will only get 6 states max! The american voters (most) are smarter than you think. Remember how they fired Carter, Obama is going down the same path!!

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I have Obama with about 230 electoral votes. He'll take more than 6 states, but the election will be called before polls close in California.

Let me see if I have this right, PA, a state that hasn't voted for an R presidential nominee in 2 1/2 decades is a swing state? By whose standards? This state should definitely be a blue state by simple logic.

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It is blue. Next month it will be light-blue. In october it will turn to purple. It won't go light-red till November.

Why bother? Besides being told they cling to guns and religion and still vote for the guy, we have the worst economy in decades yet Obama is ahead. They would vote for Daffy Duck if he had a D by his name.

Coal mining is big in PA, and there are a lot of new millionaires here due to them leasing out their PRIVATE land for natural gas.

On another note, I don't think the '08 election results carry much weight regarding how many points Obama won a given state by. McCain/Palin was a terrible ticket, and following the Bush years, even a great ticket would have had a tough run competing against Hope & Change.